ArticleBlog | Preaching and the Cross Paul’s theology of the cross
Preaching and the Cross Paul’s theology of the cross
Author: Andy PeckPost Date: 27.12.18
Paul’s theology of the cross? We all do theology, whether we like to believe it or not, and it shapes how we behave and what we do. It shapes how we pray, worship, witness, read the Bible and much more besides, often in unconscious ways. Theology, concentrated and disciplined thinking about God and all things in relation to God, matter. [NB All citations following are NRSV.]
So what are we doing talking about Paul’s theology of the cross? Surely a potentially abstract and dangerously divisive subject if ever there was one! Why? Because the cross happened way in the past and so might not obviously impinge directly on what we do today, and because Christians have long fought against other Christians over how to best understand what happened on the cross. I think we might be in for a few surprises, because Paul models a kind of theology that brings together in-depth theology and our lives. On reading Paul’s letters, you can’t get far before stumbling into some pretty dense theology. But it is theology rooted in communal relationships, landing on the runway of life. It wasn’t delivered with the humourless glare of one about to cause church division. It wasn’t merely abstract, ‘over there’, an interesting mental construct that might have more to do with floating in the air than practical Christian discipleship, such as prayer for those in authority (1 Timothy 2:2) or giving (2 Corinthians 8:1-15).
